Missing
by TheFlamingOwl
Summary: Meredith Wilson was a normal teenager until she accidentally discovered Camp Half Blood. Now, her life has changed completely and she is a part of a very important quest. One that involves a missing God.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

It was a bright sunny day. Meredith woke up as the early sun rays trickled into her room. She didn't know why, but she was feeling very excited. Then she remembered. Her school was taking the class on a field trip to the woods in Long Island Sound. She had been there before. But this time it was different. Her only friend Juniper was going to be there with her. She jumped off her bed, got dressed and headed out of the kitchen.

She found her mom in the kitchen cooking and quickly had her breakfast before she ran out the front door after giving her mom a quick peck on the cheek just as the school bus turned into the road that she lived in. Little did she know that she wouldn't be seeing her mother for a long time.

Meredith lived with her mom in their two bedroom apartment in the city of New York. She had never known her dad and she never got straight answers from her mom when she asked about her dad. She did not know his name, how he looks or even why he had left them. But her mom always told her that she had his eyes and and the smile wrinkles around her eyes were the same as his too. Meredith was happy that she had at least some sort of connection with her dad.

She got into the bus and scanned the seats looking for Juniper. She finally spotted her sitting all by herself in the last row. "Hi Junie!" Meredith squealed as she made her way to where Juniper was sitting. "H-hi Meredith." was Juniper's unenthusiastic reply. Meredith thought it odd that Juniper was the least bit excited about the field trip but she thought Juniper was in one of her moods when she was very dull and boring and left it at that.

When they finally got to the woods, their teacher pointed to different trees and told them their names and characteristics. It was alright in the beginning but soon, Meredith got bored. "Ugh, this is so boring! Let's go somewhere else, Juniper." she complained and before Juniper could reply, she took her by the hand and started wandering around the woods away from the group before the teacher realized they were missing.

Juniper and Meredith were just sitting down and talking when Meredith heard something. She looked to her right and saw something shimmering like a mirage. "Juniper, did you see that?"

"See what?"

"THAT!" Meredith said, pointing to the place where she saw the shimmering. Then, the shimmer just disappeared as if it had never been there. Just as Meredith was puzzling over the mirage like thing she had seen, a black dog as big as a horse suddenly materialized out of thin air at the spot where Meredith was pointing. Then, slowly, an arch appeared just above the dog's head. There were Greek letterings on the arch. "Camp Half Blood." Meredith read and then she realized that she had just read Greek without ever learning it before. This creeped her out. She turned to Juniper when Juniper spoke up.

"Meredith, I've been meaning to tell you that.. That... You are a demigod"

"A demi-WHAT!"

"A demigod, Meredith, a child of a God."

"What are you talking about, Juniper?"

Just as Juniper was about to reply, a boy walked up to the dog and started petting it. He looked about 18 and had dark messy hair and green eyes like Meredith's.

"Bad Mrs. O'Leary. I told you not to go this far!" he said, talking to the dog. Then, he noticed Meredith and Juniper standing in front of the arch.

"Oh hey, Juniper, you're back already?" He turned to Meredith and said "Hello, I am Percy. And you must be Meredith, right?"

"H-how do you know my n-name?" Meredith stammered too stunned at what was going on.

"It's a long story. All you need to know now is that you are the child of a God and this is the place for people like you and like me." he said, smiling.

"So, you are saying that my dad is a God? And that's why he couldn't stay with me and mom? Is all of this true? Are you like me too? Is Juniper like us too?"

"Yes, Meredith. All of this is true. But no, Juniper isn't like us. She is a tree spirit."

"A WHAAT?" Meredith asked in disbelief.

"Relax, Meredith, I'll answer all of your questions later. Now, we have to meet Mr. D and Chiron. Welcome to Camp Half Blood"

Saying this, Percy took her past the arch and into the valley beyond. Even though Meredith didn't understand most of what he said, she followed him because there was something about Percy that made him seem trustworthy.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Camp Half Blood was situated in the beautiful valley of the Half Blood Hill. The weather was pleasant. As soon as Meredith entered the valley, the smell of strawberries hit her. She also caught the faint whiffs of the sea. She looked around until she spotted a beach at the far end of the camp. Looking at the beach calmed her down somehow. She scanned the valley and saw strawberry fields, a small woods, an arena, a volleyball/basketball court, and a lot of mismatched buildings. There was even a small lake and a wall which was spewing lava. Meredith wondered what the wall was but she followed Percy without a word.

Percy led the way to a big blue four storied barn house. He knocked on the door and a gruff voice asked them to wait. As they waited on the porch, Juniper said "Meredith, I better get going. I can't stay away from my tree for long. See you around and have fun!" she smiled and went in the direction of the woods.

Meredith raised one eyebrow at Percy.

"She is a tree spirit. She is the spirit of a Juniper tree and she cannot stray away from the tree for long as it is her life force." Percy explained.

"Ah. Now I get it." answered Meredith. As they waited, Mrs. O'Leary started sniffing her. Meredith went two steps back because the huge dog scared her. "What exactly is this thing?" she asked, her voice full of fear.

"Oh, she is a hellhound. A creature of the underworld. But don't worry, Mrs. O'Leary is very friendly." replied Percy. Meredith nodded uncertainly just as the front door of the Big house opened to let them in.

Inside, there was a ping pong table surrounded by chairs and the table had a lot of refreshments on it. The room led to a small office where an old man who looked like a college professor was sitting in a wheelchair in front of a computer. There was a leopard head on one of the walls of the room which licked its lips when she saw it. She was surprised at first but then she thought she probably had imagined it. There was a middle aged man wearing a Hawaiian shirt and leopard print shorts sitting on an armchair.

"Mr. D, we have a new camper. This is Meredith." said Percy. The man looked at her closely then turned to Percy and asked "Has she been claimed yet?"

Percy shook his head. "No, not yet-"

He was interrupted by Meredith. "Uhh... Not to be rude or anything, but would someone mind telling me what is going on here?" she asked impatiently.

"I'll explain" said the man in the wheelchair coming out of the office. When the man got up from his wheelchair, Meredith almost passed out from what she saw but Percy caught her just in time. The man had a head and torso of a human attached to the body of a horse!

"Hello, miss. I am Chiron."

"Umm.. What are you?" Meredith asked in a shaky voice.

"I am a centaur. Half man, half horse."

"B-but, aren't centaurs just myths?"

"Ah. No, my dear. Centaurs are not myths at all. Do I look like a myth to you?"

"No..."

"Well, that's what I am going to explain to you. Great powers are at work in your life. The Gods - the forces you call the Greek Gods - are very much alive."

"WHAAAT?"

"Yes, my dear," Chiron explained patiently, "the Greek Gods are alive and they live RIGHT here, in New York. You see, the Greek Gods move to where the fire of civilization burns the brightest. First it was Greece, then Rome and now its New York."

"So you mean you are the Chiron from the Greek mythologies?" Meredith asked.

"Yes, I am the Chiron. And Mr. D here is the Dionysus, the God of wine."

"The god of wine?" Meredith asked, giggling. This earned her a glare from Mr. D which shut her up immediately.

"Just like in the olden times," continued Chiron, "the Gods go fall in love with mortals and have children with them and then they leave them because they cannot stay. The children of the Gods, called demigods, come here, to Camp Half Blood, to train, learn the ways of God and learn to survive in this world full of Gods and monsters. You never knew your dad because he was a God. He wanted you to come and train here. Don't worry; we have already informed your mother about this, okay? You will stay here and train with us."

"Okay.." Meredith said in a small voice. This was too much information for her to take in all at once.

"Percy, I would appreciate it if you would take her on a tour of the camp." Said Chiron.

"Sure!" Percy said cheerily.

Percy went out of the Big House and Meredith blindly followed him. She was lost in her thoughts when she slammed into a wall. Or so she thought. Then she heard the wall talk.

"Hello brother. Annabeth was looking for you. She wants you in the arena to teach your sword fighting class."

Meredith backed up and saw that it wasn't a wall but actually a person. He was huge and had only one eye in the centre of his big forehead. Meredith was about to ask what he was when Percy said

"Hello, Tyson! Meet Meredith. Meredith, this is my half brother Tyson." Meredith nodded nervously at the giant.

"Sorry, Meredith, I have to go. I will have to ask somebody else to give you a tour of the camp." Percy looked around and said "Hey, Leo! Come here will you?" A Latino looking boy with dark curly hair, pointy ears, cheerful face and a mischievous smile walked up to them.

"Leo, can you take Meredith on a tour of the camp? She is new here. I was going to give her a tour but something came up and I gotta go." saying this, Percy went away with Tyson.

"Hi, I'm Leo Valdez." Leo said, grinning at her. "Have you been claimed yet?"

"People keep asking me that but I have absolutely no idea what it means!" Meredith cried out in frustration.

"Let me explain it to you, hun. It means that your Godly parent has claimed you as their son or daughter. When they claim you, a holographic image of their symbol appears above your head. Has that happened to you? Do you know who your Godly parent is?"

"No." Meredith answered dejectedly.

"Aw, cheer up. It's alright. It will happen soon. I am the son of Hephaestus, the God of blacksmiths and fire. C'mon, I will show you around. Let's start with the cabins." saying so, he put his hands on her shoulder and steered her in the direction of the mismatched buildings.

The buildings were arranged like a Greek omega, with a giant loop of building in the central green and two wings sticking out of the bottom on either side. One glowed golden, another one silver. One had grass on the roof and one was red with barbed wires. Another one was black with fiery green torches out front. There were twenty cabins in all.

Leo started explaining "Each cabin represents a God. The children of that God stay in their respective cabins. For example, cabin one belongs to Zeus and my friend Jason Grace is the cabin counselor. And cabin three is Poseidon's and Percy is the cabin counselor there. And-"

"Leo." interrupted Meredith

"Please don't interrupt me-"

"LEO!"

"WHAT?"

"Umm.. Your hair is on fire" Meredith pointed out.

"Oh gods." Leo muttered and swatted his own hair trying to put out the fire. Finally he succeeded.

"Sorry." said Leo grinning sheepishly. "As I was saying-"

He was interrupted again by a girl who said "Leo, we need you down at the forges. One of the machines is malfunctioning."

"Okay Nyssa, just give me a minute, I'll be there." He said and then called out to two girls who were standing and talking a little way off. When they came, he said,

"Guys, this is Meredith. Can you show her the rest of the camp?" and when they agreed, he went away.

Both the girls looked 16. One of the girls had stormy grey eyes and straight jet black waist length hair. She seemed to exude power. The other girl had a pretty face with perfectly lined eyes and perfectly made up lips, an olive complexion and had pretty auburn curls framing her round face. The taller of the two stepped forward and introduced herself. "Hey, I'm Audra, daughter of Zeus"

_That explains her eyes_ thought Meredith.

The other girl said "Hello, I'm Olivia. My mom is Aphrodite. And you are?"

"Hi, my name is Meredith." replied Meredith. She instantly liked both the girls.

They showed her the cabins and headed towards the woods. They were quiet for some time and then Audra spoke up as they entered the woods. "Have you been claimed yet?"

"No. But I wish I am soon because everyone has been asking me the same thing and its getting on my nerves."

Audra chuckled and said, "Don't worry, you might be claimed by dinner. I think you are going to be claimed by one of the big three gods - Zeus, Poseidon and Hades - because you give off a very powerful aura. It would be nice if you were though, because the big three rarely have kids. In my cabin, it's just me, Jason and-"

Suddenly, a hellhound appeared out of nowhere and snarled at them. Meredith thought it was Mrs. O'Leary and went to pet it but Olivia held her back "Meredith, be careful! That thing is dangerous!"

At that moment, a spear whizzed past them and hit the creature right in the eye and the hellhound immediately exploded into a pile of dust. A tall, thin boy with tanned skin and straight black hair sticking out of his head walked to the mound of dust and picked up the spear and it turned into a coin which he put in his pocket.

"Hello, ladies. What are you doing in the woods all by yourselves? It could have been dangerous!" Then, he looked at Meredith and held out his hand and said "Hi, I am Aaron. You must be Meredith."

Meredith nodded and shook his hand. He then said he had to practice his sword fighting and went away after winking at Olivia. She blushed but said nothing.

"Why are you blushing?" asked Meredith.

"Nothing." she said quickly.

They showed her around camp all evening until the dinner bell sounded. They made their way to the dining hall. The dining hall was a large room with a table for each cabin. The campers were supposed to sit in their respective tables but nobody followed the rules. Audra, Olivia, Meredith and Aaron sat at the Zeus table. Then, a tall handsome boy with chiseled features, a sharp jaw line and perfect hair sat down in the empty space beside Audra and kissed her on her cheek. Audra gave him a quick kiss and introduced him to Meredith.

"Meredith, this is Siva, my boyfriend. Siva, meet Meredith. She is new here."

"Hello, welcome to Camp Half Blood." Siva said in an Irish accent.

Just then, Chiron stood up and announced, "Everyone, we have a new camper in our midst today. Her name is Meredith. Make sure she feels at home here. She has not been claimed yet so-"

Suddenly, there was a collective gasp around the room. Then, Aaron slowly pointed at something above Meredith's head. She looked up to see a holographic image of a sea green trident bobbing above her head. She gasped and swatted at it but it did not go away. Then after a moment, when it finally vanished, Percy slid into the empty seat beside her and put his arm around her, smiled and said "You have just been claimed by Poseidon, God of the seas, which makes you my sister."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Meredith's father was Poseidon. No wonder the sea seemed to calm her down. She smiled to herself at this happy thought as she made her way to Cabin 3 after the sing along by the campfire organized by the Apollo cabin (Apollo, along with being the sun God and the God of healing, is also the God of music.). She had just opened the front door of the cabin when Tyson squealed "Little sister!" while giving her a bone crushing hug. She hugged him back awkwardly and breathed a sigh of relief when he let go. She learnt from Audra and Olivia that Tyson was a Cyclops who were a race of half giants with only one eye.

Cabin 3 was not as big as Cabin 1 and 2 which belonged to Zeus and Hera but Meredith found it very comfortable. It was made of stone and the walls reflected the water from a fountain in the centre of the cabin. The walls were covered in tiny seashells and had tiny alcoves where Meredith dumped her backpack and crashed on one of the very comfortable looking bunk beds in the cabin and she only woke up when the breakfast conch blew.

She washed up and went to have breakfast at the dinner hall and this time she sat at the Poseidon table. Percy told her the schedule for the day. First up was sword fighting with the Zeus and Aphrodite cabins although the Aphrodite kids were only into beauty and not fighting. Well, everyone except Olivia. She didn't mind getting a little sweaty from practice.

Percy and Jason from Cabin taught the sword fighting class. Everybody was asked to pair up. No sword felt right in Meredith's hand but she chose the one that was almost perfect. Percy chose to be her partner as she was just a beginner. He taught her how to jab, spar and block. He was very encouraging too. After 15 minutes of practice, she was asked to pair up with somebody else. Audra was free so she went to practice with her. Audra was not as good was Percy but she was definitely pretty great for someone who started camp only 6 weeks back. Percy who was watching told them that they were doing a good job. He even told Meredith that he would ask the Hephaestus kids to make a sword for her. Meredith gladly accepted the offer.

It had been a few days now since Meredith had first stepped into Camp Half Blood and the more she stayed, the more she grew attached to the place. There was something about camp that felt like home. She was sitting by the canoe lake talking to Olivia when she noticed Leo walking towards her.

"Hey, uhh, Meredith, You remember how the Hephaestus cabin offered to make you a sword, right?" He asked her.

"Yes, I remember." she replied.

"Well, it's done. Do you want to see it?" "Sure!" she exclaimed as she got to her feet.

They left Olivia behind and made their way to the woods were Bunker 9, the forge, was located.

Bunker 9 was a huge workroom with work tables and had bits of celestial bronze, nuts and bolts, blueprints and grease everywhere. Leo walked to the nearest table and picked up a sword and handed it to Meredith.

The blade was made of celestial bronze and the handle was made of imperial gold and it had a very intricate design with Greek sayings and everything. Meredith held it in her hands and it felt perfect. She turned around to thank him when she noticed that his hair was burning. Again.

"Leo, any particular reason why you keep spontaneously combusting?" she asked pointing to his hair.

He put out the fire in his hair and looked at her and said in a serious tone "I am going to show you something. Please don't freak out."

He extended his palm and flames of white hot fire sprung from his fingertips. Meredith's eyes widened and jaws dropped. "H-how-"

"Hephaestus is not only the God of the forges but also the God of fire. Not all his kids inherit this power, but I kind of did. I don't know why though."

She did not say anything for a full minute. He thought he had freaked her out and that she thought he was a freak and would never talk to him again. This broke his heart.

"This.. Is... AWESOME!" she said slowly, clearly impressed. Leo was relieved and his heart jumped with joy when he realized that he had managed to impress her.

"Well," she continued giving him a big grin, "Thanks a lot for making me this sword. Its perfect and beautiful." She really meant it and held back the urge to give him a big hug.

"It-it was no big deal." he said shrugging his shoulders when in reality he had actually spent a whole day just carving the design on the hilt. They walked back to the lake just in time for dinner. In the cabin at night, Percy told Meredith that they had capture the flag the next day.

"Capture the flag?" Meredith asked with a questioning look on her face.

"Capture the flag is a game where we all divided into two teams -blue and red- and the forest is divided into two. One half is the territory of the blue team and the second half is the red team's territory. Each team is given a flag and it's their job to capture the flag of the other team while protecting their own from the opponent team." Percy explained.

"Oh, sounds fun!" replied Meredith as she got into bed.

Meredith woke up looking forward to capture the flag but was disappointed to learn at breakfast that it wouldn't take place until after dinner that night. She continued eating when Leo entered the dining hall and gave her one of his amazing and mischievous grins. Her stomach did a somersault.

_Woah!_ She thought. _What was THAT all about? _But soon pushed the thought out of her head.

The camp went about their chores and classes the whole day and at night after dinner they assembled in front of the woods. Everybody was wearing armors and had their weapons ready with them. The Athena, Ares, Aphrodite, Apollo and Hephaestus cabin was on the blue team and the rest were on the red team. They were handed helmets with plumes in the color of their respective teams.

"Heroes!" Chiron announced. "You know the rules. The creek is the boundary line. The entire forest is fair game. All magic items are allowed. The flag must be prominently displayed, and have no more than two guards. Prisoners may be disarmed, but may not be bound or gagged. No killing or maiming is allowed. I will serve as referee and battlefield medic. Arm yourselves!"

Annabeth Chase, Percy's girlfriend from the Athena cabin, led the blue team forward. Percy gave the team instructions. Meredith, Audra and Aaron were asked to try and capture the flag of the blue team from the east direction. They agreed and set out. After sometime, Meredith got separated from the rest of the group and got lost. She walked in the general direction of the territory of the blue team and stumbled into a clearing. Right in the middle of the clearing stood the flag. It was unguarded. She seized the chance and went to the flag and grabbed it. Then she felt the tip of a sword on her back. She turned around to see a boy from Hephaestus pointing a sword at her. She sparred with him for a few minutes until his sword flew out of his hands.

Then, Leo appeared out of the woods and realized what had happened. He took out his sword when Meredith said, "C'mon Valdez, you're not really going to attack a girl are you?" with a smile on her face.

"Leo, don't listen to her." screamed his cabin mate.

Leo was still making up his mind when Meredith grabbed his sword out of his hand and threw it somewhere deep into the woods. All of a sudden, Chiron emerged into the clearing, saw what was happening and said into a megaphone "The red team captures the flag! Red team wins!"

Everyone came to the clearing to witness what had happened. The red team cheered while the blue team was screaming at Leo for being so stupid.

That night, as she lay in bed, Meredith couldn't stop thinking about Leo Valdez and his disarming grin.

The next day, she was walking by the forges with Audra and Olivia when she saw Leo coming out of it carrying tools and celestial bronze. Just then, a huge bronze dragon emerged from the woods. It was beautiful and it was glinting in the sunlight. It was making its way towards them. Meredith was staring at the dragon, mesmerized by its beauty. She heard Audra let out a gasp and realized that the dragon was looking straight at her. It opened its mouth and shot out a white hot column of flame at her. Every other camper evacuated the area immediately but she was too numb with shock to move. Then, she felt somebody put their arms around her and shield her from the fire. It was Leo. He was trying to calm her down in a soothing voice. But it was impossible for her to calm her down when she was so close to him.

Finally, some Hephaestus kids managed to tame the dragon and take it back into the forest where it had come from. Leo let go of her even though he did not want to. She looked at him and muttered a thanks. She hoped he did not notice her blushing.

"Hey, I will always be around to save you." he replied with a wink and walked away casually.

To Meredith, the craziest thing about the whole incident was not the fire breathing bronze dragon or anything. It was that she had liked being in Leo Valdez's arms. This could only mean one thing. She HAD to talk to Olivia about this. She would know what to do.

She found Audra and Olivia sitting by the canoe lake.

"Thanks for totally abandoning me when my life was at stake." She grumbled.

"Oh, we thought you were having a moment there, with Valdez." Audra said mischievously.

"Oh alright! I give up. I like Leo Valdez! A lot actually! There! I said it!" Meredith finally confessed.

"About time, too." teased Olivia.

"So you guys already knew?" Meredith asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Honey, I am the daughter of the Goddess of love. I always know." Olivia said.

"You should tell him if you like him so much, actually." said Audra.

"No way! What if he doesn't like that way?" Questioned Meredith.

"Oh, he does." chuckled Audra.

"Yeah, it's obvious by the way he keeps setting himself on fire around you. And besides, I told you, I am an expert on love." Olivia said grinning.

"Oh yeah? If you're such an expert, why can't you see that Aaron is in love with you? Or the fact that you love him back too but you just won't admit it?" Meredith countered.

This left Olivia at a loss for words as Audra burst out laughing.

"Believe me, I have been telling her the same thing for a month now." She said.

That evening, after dinner, they were all making their way to the camp fire sing along. Someone whispered in Meredith's ear, "Come on, querida, I want to show you something."

With that, they grabbed her hand and pulled her away from the crowd. She was about to scream but then stopped when she realized it was Leo.

"Leo, there better be a good reason for kidnapping me like this." she said in mock anger.

"Oh, but there is, cariño, there is." he replied.

He took her to the beach, turned to face her and cupped her face in his hands and said, "Meredith, I never thought a woman would mean so much to me after my mom died, but ever since you stepped into this camp you just proved me wrong. I tried to push away the feeling but it was impossible for me. I fell in love with you the minute you told me you had no idea what claiming was. I tried keeping it in but it was impossible for me to stop thinking about you. I know a beautiful girl like you is totally out of my league but there is something i want to ask you."

With that, he went over to the sand and extended his index finger where a column of fire sprung. He bent down and touched a. Spot on the ground. A message written in fire suddenly sprung to life. It said,

"Meredith, will you be my girlfriend?"

Meredith took in the message for a whole minute. She was too dumb struck. Her heart was beating so fast that she thought it would burst. She then looked at Leo, into his warm brown eyes that made her melt, and said

"Yes!" almost whispering, just as the waves washed the message away.

The word had barely left her mouth when Leo crashed his lips onto hers.


End file.
